Funeral Service Held for Parkland Victim Peter Wang

Peter Wang, a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student and JROTC cadet, is remembered at a funeral service.

(Published Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018)

The United States Military Academy Preparatory School accepted a Junior ROTC cadet who died valiantly in the Parkland school massacre Tuesday, on the same day his funeral was being held.

As loved ones awaited word on whether a petition for him to receive a military burial would garner enough signatures, West Point posthumously offered 15-year-old Peter Wang admission to the academy. Loved ones say Wang died a hero in his ROTC uniform, and his dream was to attend West Point and serve in the military.

"West Point has given posthumous offers of admissions in very rare instances for those candidates or potential candidate's whose actions exemplified the tenets of Duty, Honor and Country," the statement said.

A White House petition is calling on Congress to give Wang a proper, full honors military burial. The petition had received more than 56,000 signatures by Tuesday but still needs more than 40,000 signatures before it would get a response from the White House.

"His selfless and heroic actions have led to the survival of dozens in the area. Wang died a hero, and deserves to be treated as such, and deserves a full honors military burial," the petition reads.

In a military funeral, tradition calls for the playing of "Taps" and the folding of the American flag.

"He died in uniform and he saved people's lives. He deserves to have a full military burial," friend and fellow JROTC member Victoria Downing said. "I want him to be remembered as a hero because that’s exactly who he was."